


Trinacrian Defense

by Elsinore_and_Inverness



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Assassins Guild, Because the way it was worded made it sound like he did that to make it easier, Chess, Gen, I think they're quite young here, Mention of societal transphobia, School, This is what I pictured when the Guild Diary said he played blindfolded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27879986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elsinore_and_Inverness/pseuds/Elsinore_and_Inverness
Summary: “What?”“Stealth chess. Tournament.”“Why?”
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Trinacrian Defense

Downey rammed his shoulder into Vetinari’s arm, passing him in the hallway. “Your fanclub is excited.” It was undoubtedly a taunt. Vetinari looked at him questioningly.

“Morley says you won two games against Girondelle.”

Vetinari’s brow knotted into a frown. “Yeah. Two out of ten. Ordinary chess. What do you mean fan club?”

“You know Girondelle’s won the tournament four years running.”

“Yeah, she was playing better—“

“Shush,” Downey said urgently, “Alex isn’t out. It is not your place to—“

“I know.”

“There are much worse things than being kicked out of the Guild.”

“Believe me, I know.” Havelock looked bone-weary and frightened, and Downey dropped the subject with all the care and concern of an assistant store manager suddenly finding himself holding crate that was heavier than expected.

“They say Girondelle has won versus international masters.”

Alexandra Girondelle had been one of the members of Scorpion House who had voted for Vetinari to leave the dorm room. This said next to nothing about her, as it had been a unanimous decision, but it certainly made it a bit awkward if she wanted him to help tune the piano or he wanted her help re-stringing his violin.

Havelock waved a hand in a circle in the air. “What is this? Are you trying to make me feel better for losing so many times?”

Alexandra had told Havelock that she played chess in her mind, not just working out the moves and possible combinations, but actually setting up a competition in which she was able to momentarily forget what she planning and was intrigued to see which side would win. He had been in awe, imagining what that must be like. In some ways it seemed like how writing fiction or acting might work, being able to block out some of what you know, unless it were an illusion.

“I’m making fun of you for being moody,” Downey said.

“Were you? I wasn’t getting that at all.” Havelock had been going to say earlier that Alexandra had been playing better during the games he had won and that the other times he had gotten totally distracted. 

“Are you entering?”

“What?”

“Stealth chess. Tournament.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re fucking brilliant at chess.”

“What’s it to you?”

“I haven’t found anyone willing to bet against Alex.”

“I’m not a racehorse.”

“Let me see if I can ask this like a friend.”

Vetinari waited, eyebrows raised, shifting unselfconsciously from foot to foot, for Downey to come up with something. When nothing was forthcoming, he said “And I rarely actually win a game. I don’t pay attention long enough.”

“But don’t you see, that’s what makes it so good.”

“You’re really looking at this like a horse race.”

“I am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Don’t you need to get to class?”

-

Alexandra studied Havelock studying the board. They were in the basement common room, playing on a wooden board.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Rosewood and maple. Rosewood is technically a legume. The black veins are called spider webbing. You can tell true rosewood by the sound. Every time I set down a piece it’s like when you accidently hit the back of a guitar or a lute. The species is endangered by deforestation and loss of the predators of rodents that eat the fruit. Maple, that’s the side you’re playing—part of the top of the Queen and King and one of the bishops is broken off and there’s cracks in the board, some of this is from not being properly secured while transported, but I think the pieces are broken from being ground under a boot heel. The wood is varnished instead of stained so I can see fingerprints—sugar maple is one of the hardest woods used in furniture. I do not like maple syrup because—” Havelock leaned forward, cheeks pressed against knuckles, elbows on the table, “I’m going to stop now.”

“You’re fine.” Alexandra said. “Can you look at a chessboard in your head? Visualize gameplay?”

“Of course.”

“Not everyone can. I was thinking of trying something.” She untied the piece of material she had tied in a loose bow under her collar and passed it across the table.

“Blindfold?”

“Give it a try.”

Havelock tied the fabric over his eyes.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“I’ve got my eyes closed.”

“You’re in Hedgehog,” Alexandra noted, referring to the pawn formation on Havelock’s side of the board. “And the Hedgehog can never be—“

“I think this is working,” Havelock said, smiling as he plotted out the next moves from behind the barricade of pawns.

He found he could move the physical pieces easily enough without being able to see them, and everything was easier to figure out on the board in his head if he didn’t imagine it clearly, left it in the shimmering purple-green-red (octarine with blood in, really) of the static behind his eyelids.

Alexandra won the game, but it was close.

She folded out the two panels on either side of the board. “Let’s try with the extra sixteen squares and the Assassins.”

Stealth chess was the Assassins’ Guild specialty. Two extra rows were added to either side of the board to represent the rooftops and passageways through which Assassins moved unnoticed. The Assassin pieces marked out how far they were travelling, but not in what direction, so they could appear on the board unexpectedly to inhume a piece. On roundworld in the twenty-first century a similar concept would be implemented in a bluffing game, resulting in the proliferation of the denominalization of the word “vent.” 

Vetinari did not win the tournament that year, but Downey suspected this was specifically and intentionally to avoid winning him any money.


End file.
